THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 13, 1994 TAG: 9411130061
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LEWISBURG, W.VA. LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
A former Virginia beauty queen goes on trial this week on charges she planned to kill the family of her romantic rival with a 9mm pistol, a butcher knife, a hammer, lighter fluid and matches.
Tracy Michelle Lippard, 23, of Newport News, is charged with attempted murder, among other charges, against former Secret Service agent Rodney Weikle, 51; his wife, Carlynn, 48; and their daughter and her apparent rival, Melissa, 25, all of Lewisburg.
Lippard was a former Miss Williamsburg and a contestant in the 1993 Miss Virginia Pageant.
The trial, scheduled to start Wednesday, will be held in the 18th Century courthouse in this picturesque Greenbrier County town of about 2,400.
``It's business as usual. People haven't paid much attention,'' Lewisburg Mayor James Matheny said. ``I haven't heard much about it.''
But it was big news when Lippard was taken to Greenbrier County Jail on Feb. 27.
Four days earlier, according to Sheriff's Deputy Perry McGuire, she knocked on the Weikles' door and asked to use the telephone, saying she had car troubles.
Rodney Weikle, now a teacher at Greenbrier East High School, was struck in the back of the head with the hammer after Lippard got him alone in the kitchen, McGuire said.
He was able to subdue her and he began questioning her, the deputy said.
But when Carlynn Weikle entered the room, Lippard pulled a pistol and was overwhelmed by the couple.
``I guess she was going to kill us all and burn the house down,'' Rodney Weikle told an interviewer in March.
The Weikles did not return telephone messages last week.
Authorities said Lippard and Melissa Weikle apparently were dating the same man, Todd Scott of High Point, N.C.
Police said Lippard was jealous that Melissa became pregnant by Scott.
Lippard has pleaded innocent to three counts of attempted murder, and one count each of malicious wounding, carrying a concealed weapon, brandishing a concealed weapon, improper use of license plates and bringing stolen property into the state.
Paul Detch, Lippard's defense attorney, declined to discuss the case last week and refused interview requests with his client.
Lippard has an unlisted telephone number in Newport News.
Prosecutor Richard Loresen failed to return repeated telephone calls.
Matheny said only Lewisburg residents with ``nothing to do will go up there just to see what it's all about.''
``There was a lot of surprise that this would happen in Lewisburg,'' the mayor said.
``There's been surprising little discussion about it,'' said John McIlhenny, treasurer of the Greenbrier County Chamber of Commerce. ``Last time we had a famous trial, the hotels filled up,'' he remembered.
``It's been business as usual,'' said J. Bright Hern of Lewisburg, who was the publisher of the weekly Greenbrier Independent newspaper for 50 years before he sold it in 1973. ``People don't pay much attention,'' he said. ``I haven't heard much about it.''
Greenbrier County Judge Charles Lobban said that he expected the trial to last about three days. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Tracy Michelle Lippard of Newport News is accused of trying to kill
a couple and their daughter, who was dating the same man as Lippard.
The 23-year-old Lippard is a former Miss Williamsburg and 1993 Miss
Virginia contestant.
by CNB